Projects

About Amaidhi

Amaidhi is a word from Tamil, the language spoken in the South-East of India. It means 'light' or 'peace'.

The Foundation

Amaidhi Foundation is a group of India travelers that has supported small-scale development projects since 1997 in and around the southern Indian city of Chennai (Madras) and in Kamalapuram and PT Parru in Andhra Pradesh.

It supports projects initiated by Indian ngo's that our board members have come to know personally and with which they have built up a long-term, sustainable relationship. Therefore Amaidhi Foundation talks about her Indian partners. The bond with our partners is durable but the project aid is in principle finite. A number of projects is therefore (financially) completed. They are carried on by the Indian ngo's without further support of Amaidhi Foundation.

Amaidhi Foundation takes care of fundraising and guides her Indian partners in the responsibility of the supported projects.

Method

Amaidhi supports small-scale projects

Amaidhi provides money for local initiatives of Indian ngo's

Amaidhi has no overhead costs: the work is done by volunteers who pay administration and travel costs out of their own pocket.

Amaidhi keeps its donors informed of the progress of projects through a regular newsletter.

Amaidhi invests in structural aid in the area of poverty reduction, healthcare and education.

History

Amaidhi Foundation is derived from private initiatives. In 1995/1996, Dilia Hunsche worked for six months as a volunteer in the St. Thomas Hospital in Chennai, a hospital for the poor. On that occasion she also sent a container with relief goods to the hospital. In Chennai she met Kees Hoovers and Janine van Rennes who, during their journey through South India, had come into contact with Zonta in Chennai, the shelter home for women with aids .

Together with Dilia’s partner, Peter Deurloo, they decided to continue supporting these initiatives when they were back in the Netherlands.In 1997 the foursome founded the Amaidhi Foundation. St. Thomas Hospital and Zonta were the first projects that the Foundation supported. In following years, various other projects followed. At present Dilia Hunsche and Peter Deurloo are still members of the Amaidhi Foundation board.